Looking back at Elan School’s notorious past after fire at former campus [Video]

One of the seven buildings on the Poland campus of the defunct Elan School was destroyed by a fire that started early Sunday morning.The private, for-profit boarding school was opened in 1970 by psychiatrist Gerald Davidson and Joe Ricci, the former owner of the Scarborough Downs race track.The Elan School, which closed in 2011, was known as a place for troubled teenagers. The annual fee for parents was $55,000 per child.Former students have come forward over the years to say they were victims of physical and emotional abuse. One former student produced a documentary about the Elan School called “Last Stop.”In 1982, 15-year-old Phil Williams Jr. died when witnesses said he was forced to take part in a boxing match with another student. Maine’s Total Coverage spoke with Williams’ sister, Pam Newell, in 2016 when the Maine State Police opened an investigation into his death.”I thought it was a wonderful …